Chisoxfn

Thats a lot of scratch.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 09:40 AM) Frankly, I'm much, much less worried about Gavin Floyd's workload this year than I am Danksy's. Gavin's thrown 170 and 176 innings the last 2 years between the minors and the big leagues, and he's 2 years older than Danks so his arm has been seeing solid workloads for a while now. There's no reason why we need to plan to give him time off like we ought to do for Danks. We'd actually be pretty smart if we tried to push Floyd to get around 200 innings this year, because if we can get him to that point this year then it's entirely possible we'll have his arm readily conditioned to be one of those classic 200 inning per year guys for the next few years. Completely agree with you on Floyd. It appears that he had a bit of a dead arm period which he's pitched through (his velocity was up his last outing) and hopefully we'll be able to get him right around the 200 inning mark. Of course you also have to remember if we hit post-season play you are adding a bit more innings as well (and hopefully we will be )

Fidel lives!!!

Wow...Ridiculous.

Will Smith usually has a certain charisma about him that almost no matter what I'll leave the theatre having enjoyed the flick. Originally I didn't want to see this movie, but the previews were so damn entertaining.

Its a moot point anyway, Brand is gonna be on the Clippers who assuming everyone is healthy will be a pretty damn fun team to watch.

QUOTE (Gage Loves Me @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 12:42 AM) Jaromir, don't leave me. Oh man, what are you going to do with Jagr gone.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 1, 2008 -> 11:59 PM) except for the $2-3 million you'd have to throw at him I guess the question is, 2-3 million at Garcia or 2-3 million at some international prospects (or maybe some of that slotted towards Kyle Long). I personally could see a need at the starting spot considering how at some point we are going to have to skip some starts from some of the young guys (or at least piggy-back them with someone else). However, the Sox could easily turn things over to Clayton Richard or Lance Broadway and take there chances there (too bad Broadway has been in a funk lately because if he was still cruising I would be all about letting Garcia do his thing elsewhere and just know that worse case scenario we'll rely on Lance for a few starts; I say a few starts, because if someone actually went down, at that point Kenny would probably have to look at the trade market).

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ Jul 1, 2008 -> 08:58 PM) Well, the original poster was comparing the two pitchers in their careers, or at least I thought he was. Him pointing out that Garcia's 4.09 ERA wasn't a massive upgrade over Vazquez's 4.29 ERA. I took that to mean that Garcia wasn't all that much better than Vazquez during their career. I disagree with that. Garcia was much better. I said I would take a healthy Garcia (i.e. Garcia of 2004 - 2005) over Vazquez and then added that it was doubtful Garcia was healthy now. As much as people talk about Javy's great stuff, I'll take Garcia in his prime over Javy. The key is Javy has thus far had a longer career so to speak, which you have to give him credit for. You can also say that Javy may have had a better career had he spent the early part of his careers pitching in a pitchers heaven (Safeco) and playing for a good team (as opposed to playing for the Expos). Still, I remember when the Sox first acquired Freddy and just how absolutely nasty his stuff was. Its too bad he never had full confidence in it and let other teams find ways to beat him because had he pounded the zone with that stuff, he'd have been a perennial 20 game winner on a good club. The one terrible thing about Javy, Jose, and Freddy (Gavin & Danks too) is that they can be beat with minimal hits because a single or walk can easily be turned into a runner on 2nd (cause they all suck horribly at holding runners and having shorter deliveries with runners on; you could say the same about Maddux, but he never ever walked guys).

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 05:34 AM) That would explain his dominance out of the windup. I think he had a bunch of Ks pitching out of the windup in his last outing and he struggled once he walked guys (like the first inning). I think you can also look at the fact that for the past 5 to 6 starts he's been living on the outside part of the plate and usually missing and falling behind. He needs to reclaim the inside part and when he does that he'll be back to being one of the better pitchers in the AL.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 05:24 AM) Here's a random question... With Mack no longer on the club, who is this team's emergency catcher? I don't know why, but I somehow thought it was Pablo Ozuna. Paul Konerko was originally a catcher though, LOL.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 08:16 AM) I'm a firm believer in the quality start - if you go 6 innings and haven't given up many runs, that's enough for the team. If you have the lead, you should win when you come out, 6 innings is a fair expectation for a starter most times. If he goes more than that, all the better. Danks certainly has his fair share of quality starts, and not the borderline 6 IP 3 ER ones either. Quality starts are great and put your club in position to win the game, but I'm a bigger fan of a 7 inning 3 ER start because I think that puts the decision in the hands of the pitcher. Again, I'm a bit nitpicky there and am always happy with a quality start, but love it when our guys go 7.

The club is hitting terribly with 2 outs and runners on, but aside from that, this offense has really been rock solid. Heck, can we hope this offense performs like the 06 offense did during the first half of the season (which was one of the best offenses I've seen on the Southside ever and that says something because the early 2000's had some pretty amazing offenses).

QUOTE (joeynach @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 01:39 AM) Expected Wins and Losses (X W-L). The mlb.com standings includes the X W-L, which is defined as "Expected won-loss record based on runs scored and runs allowed, using this formula: RS^1.82/((RS^1.82)+(RA^1.82))". We have scored 408 and given up 320. Our record is 48-35, our X W-L is 51-32, the best in baseball, and 1/2 game ahead of the cubs X W-L of 51-33. Just kind of a interesting stat. Some other notables, the Angels are 50-34 and have an X W-L of 43-41, the indians are 37-47 and have an X W-L of 43-41, and the A's are 45-38 and their X W-L is 48-35. I guess its a matter of luck so far, but the sox are facing two teams here before the break that should have more wins but have been slightly unlucky. It makes sense to me. Heck, I remember at least 7 to 8 games where the only reason the club lost was because they absolutely failed to do some very easy fundemental things. Luckily this hasn't really occurred much the past month so I think they are getting that sort of stuff straightened out (with exception to the failure to get in the key run in game one of the Cubs series in Wrigley).

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 07:48 AM) there aren't too many managers that are going to take the bat out of the hands of their 3,4,and 5 hitters.So he happened to hit into a DP,that happens. You didn't want a bunt in that situation di you? If they do bunt,which would rarely even be considered, they just walk Thome to load the bases and set up another potential DP or force out. If it was the 9th inning or even 8th inning I wouldn't have even given a damn if the Sox pinch hit Dye and put in Pablo to drop a bunt. But in the 6th inning I see no issue (and 99.9% of the time this is the case, regardless of the inning) with sticking with your big bopper. Afterall, these guys are paid to knock in runs and they do a damn good job of it. I do agree Dye should be going the other way, but Cliff Lee completely PWNED him that at bat (and you got to tip your cap to Lee for that).

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 07:35 AM) It's just sad to me that wins are actually a metric that people use, and the first thing people look at. Danks should have 10 or 11 wins now and it's not his fault he's a 5 game winner, and it's obvious when you look at his stats. Wins = useless. Still, while Danks has been amazing in terms of limiting runs and he's definately been hurt by the lack of run support you can put some of the blown games or no decisions on him because he has had a good deal of outings where he doesn't go deep into games which than puts it on the pen earlier and just increases the likelihood of the decision falling on someone else. That above is why I do believe you can't just ignore wins. Obviously it is dependent on other factors, but there are certain things pitchers can do to step up. Plus, sometimes you have to just cinch her up and hunker down when you know you have a lesser margin of error (ie, facing a tougher opponent or when your going head to head with another ace). Danks last night...now thats one of those games where he was completely jobbed, but you could say the same thing about Cliff Lee.

QUOTE (The Critic @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 07:04 AM) My guess is Quentin and Dye make it. Middle relievers are often ignored in favor of closers, so I think Linebrink gets jobbed. Quentin and Dye should be locks if they don't fall into massive slumps. Linebrink has a good chance if they grab a setup man but they may go with closers (Jenks has no chance, imo). The other sleeper would be AJ who is easily one of the best hitting catchers in the AL. At 3B, I can tell you Arod and Longoria both would get the nod over Crede to me (I'm giving some Dray love).

This thread has been cuban missiled!!!

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 2, 2008 -> 06:40 AM) According to the Trib, the Sox are gonna give one more effort to sign Kyle Long. Some Sox brass are going to visit him, which is definitely a good sign, I don't think the Sox would do this if they had 0 shot to sign him. Like someone said, the Long's must still have the door open pending on the bonus money. This is fantastic news. Kyle Long is very very raw and a high high risk draft pick (the odds of him panning out lesser than the typical guy with his type of ability). However, if all went right, you are talking about a potential middle of the order bat (I still say he projects better there) with massive power potential (something our system actually lacks, despite the power we have at the major league level). Even if they fall short they have a chance to have the groundwork set for what could happen a couple years from now.

Betancourt is in. Quentin is up.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 1, 2008 -> 07:11 PM) We'll get the hot dog eater, I believe. I wonder if Koboyashi will reclaim his title on Friday (isn't it the 4th where they do that competition or is that like Labor day).

Another stellar inning by Linebrink. Middle of the order due up for the Sox. Please don't get homer happy...nice short swings and make Borowski or whomever comes in throw strikes.

Come on Linebrink, no walks.

Phew...2 outs.

Thats big, leadoff hitter gone.